2025 Reach Grant

Eligibility

Applicant Eligibility: must be met at the time of application
• Applicant institutions must be based in the United States or Canada. Applicants need not be United States citizens. Funds must be granted to nonprofit institutions or organizations.
• Applicants must have an MD, PhD, or MD/PhD or equivalent and be appointed as faculty (or equivalent) at an academic institution.
• Applicants must have a demonstrated track record of pediatric cancer researchwith experience in translational research.
• Multiple investigator applications that bring together pairs or teams of researchers with complementary expertise are encouraged.

Scope of Proposal
• Proposals must fall within the scope of Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation’s mission, focused on childhood cancers. Proposals with a sole/primary focus on patients >19 years of age will not be considered.
• Proposals will be evaluated based on their late-translational potential. Thus, screening projects, discovery projects, and early translational projects are not appropriate for the Reach Grant.
• The proposal must be hypothesis driven and demonstrate feasibility. Preliminary data are required.
• Proposals should be milestone driven; explicit timeline and time-based deliverables for the proposed studies mustbe presented. A milestone is defined as a scheduled event in the project timeline, signifying the completion of a major project stage or activity.
• Proposal must include a plan to bring project to a clinical trial. Projects with a clear clinical trial plan will be prioritized

Summary

Reach Grant Program Description
Significant barriers exist that impede the translation of innovative and important ideas to the clinic. The Reach Grant seeks to remove one of these barriers by providing support for important pre-clinical hypothesis-driven research projects that are necessary to move a study from the preclinical arena into a clinical trial. Thus, the goal of this award is to support translational studies that will result in a phase I and/or II clinical trial, two to three years from the project end date. Examples of appropriate research projects include but aren’t limited to, completing IND-enabling studies, providing requisite pre-clinical data for clinical trial development, or validating biomarkers that will enable patient selection for new clinical trials.

Overhead

Indirect costs are not allowed for this grant. 

Application deadlines

RSO detailed review deadline

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

Application Package Instructions
• All sections described below should be combined into one PDF (max 20 MB) and uploaded to the ALSF online application form (see Application Submission instructions).
• All templates mentioned can be found on ALSF’s Resources for Grant Applicants page.

Format Instructions
• PAGE HEADER: All pages of the application should be numbered; the name of the principal investigator should appear in the upper right-hand corner of each page.
• FORMAT: Follow NIH format guidelines: Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype, or Georgia fonts with a font size of 11 points or larger with a minimum of ½ inch margins.
• ORDER & LENGTH: The order of the application should be followed, adhering to the maximum number of pages allowed for each subsection indicated in parentheses.
• Appendices are not allowed.

Additional Resources

Using RMS:

RMS: Creating a Pre-Award LOI

RMS: Creating a Pre-Award Application

Support for projects involving Indigenous Research:

Support with the development of your grant application is available internally through the Indigenous Research Support Team (IRST). Applicants can reach out by email to IRST at IRST@ucalgary.ca in advance of the RSO internal deadline. For more information about IRST, please visit the IRST webpage.

Support for Knowledge Engagement:

Support for knowledge mobilization/engagement/translation is available internally through the Knowledge Engagement Team. Applicants can reach out by email to the KE team at knowledge.engagement@ucalgary.ca in advance of the RSO internal deadline. For more information, please visit the KE team webpage.

Support for Research Data Management:

For information on research data management plans, processes, or best practices for your research program, please contact research.data@libanswers.ucalgary.com and/or visit https://libguides.ucalgary.ca/researchdatamanagement.

Support for EDI in Research:

RSO can provide resources and support to research teams on the integration of equitable and inclusive practices in research design and research practice. Contact Erin.OToole@ucalgary.ca for more information.